Software Notes: VirtualBox

I’ve been using VirtualBox on Windows for a couple years but stuck with VMare Fusion on my Macs. I recently gave VMware the boot on my Macs and will stick with VirtualBox all around. VirtualBox isn’t as polished as VMware but gets the job done. This is a collection of tips for managing VirtualBox from the command-line.

VirtualBox has become my desktop virtualization software of choice for both Windows and Mac hosts. I’ve used it on Windows for years but stuck to VMware Fusion on the Mac, only recently replacing it. It’s not as polished as VMware Fusion but gets the job done. This post is a collection of notes and tips I’ve collected. It will be updated over time, rather than creating new posts. The last update was Nov 17, 2012.

These all worked for me on Windows and OS X with VirtualBox 4.2. They should work on Linux too, but I haven’t tried them. On OS X run the commands from a terminal windows. On Windows run them from a command prompt.

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Converting a Virtual Disk type

I converted several VMs from VMware Fusion. While the VMware VMDK disk format can be used to run a VM, not all features are supported, such as resizing. This command line can be used to convert the disk. NOTE: The command line below doesn’t properly display the double-dashes in the command. the format and variant parameters are both preceded by two dashes.